The invention relates to new compositions for use in agriculture as soil modifiers and fertilizers and their method of manufacture.
More particularly, this invention relates to new compositions suitable for use in agriculture as soil modifiers and fertilizers, obtained from the waste materials of the manufacture of titanium dioxide from ilmenites or ilmenite slags by the sulphate process, these materials consisting essentially of heptahydrated ferrous sulphate. Obtention of ferrous sulphate and titanium dioxide from ilmenites via sulphate is described in British Patent 279,786 and in an article by W. J. O'Brien in Chem.Eng.Progress 44, pages 809-14 (1948).
On account of the limited possibility of utilizing the above-mentioned waste material, and considering also its high impurity content as well as the fact that its direct disposal is the source of severe contamination which causes considerable disruptions to the natural environment due to its reducing properties, toxicity and the large quantities involved, the problem has become increasingly important to convert such waste to products which are free from the above-described drawbacks.
Obviously, the preferred course would be the conversion of the waste material obtained in the production of titanium dioxide into an advantageously usable material.